Heavenly Springs

Holding Fast The Doctrines of Grace

Creature Idolatry by Octavious Winslow

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Image from the Octavious Winslow Archive
Image from the Octavious Winslow Archive

Do not take your burdened heart to minister, nor to saints, nor to sacraments, nor to religious duties, nor to pious services; all, all these, are vain helpers, having no power to lighten you of the burden.

Let us endeavor to strengthen and encourage you, my reader, in this holy and helpful privilege of bringing to Jesus what, in all probability, you have brought in vain to man.

Imagine the Lord addressing these words to you, “Bring it here unto me.” The invitation, perhaps, finds you in deep need, in overwhelming distress, at a critical crisis of your history. Human power has proved helpless, friends faithless, plans futile, and you are at your wits’ end.

Do not be ashamed to take your case to Jesus, even though you have gone first to human help.

It is His glory to step in and achieve a work and bestow a blessing when all human power and resources have failed. He loves to unlock His treasury when man’s is utterly exhausted.

Go, then, fall at His feet, and tell Him you have tried all other help, and all has failed you, and at last you come to Him.

In a word, Jesus bids you bring all to Him…. your depression and despondency, the sadness of your heart, the anxieties of your mind, the wounds of friends, the calumnies of foes, the assaults of man, your fear of death and your dread of judgment.

All, all He invites to the asylum of His love, to the arm of His power, and to the fulness of His sufficiency.

Online Source: GraceGems

Lean Hard by Octavious Winslow

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“Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain you.” Psalm 55:22

It is by an act of simple, prayerful faith we transfer our cares and anxieties, our sorrows and needs, to the Lord. Jesus invites you come and lean upon Him, and to lean with all your might upon that arm that balances the universe, and upon that bosom that bled for you upon the soldier’s spear! But you doubtingly ask, “Is the Lord able to do this thing for me ?” And thus, while you are debating a matter about which there is not the shadow of a shade of doubt, the burden is crushing your gentle spirit to the dust. And all the while Jesus stands at your side and lovingly says:

“Cast your burden upon Me and I will sustain you. I am God Almighty. I bore the load of your sin and condemnation up the steep of Calvary, and the same power of omnipotence, and the same strength of love that bore it all for you then, is prepared to bear your need and sorrow now. Roll it all upon Me! Child of My love! Lean hard! Let Me feel the pressure of your care. I know your burden, child! I shaped it—I poised it in My own hand and made no proportion of its weight to your unaided strength. For even as I laid it on, I said I shall be near, and while she leans on Me, this burden shall be Mine, not hers. So shall I keep My child within the encircling arms of My own love. Here lay it down! Do not fear to impose it on a shoulder which upholds the government of worlds! Yet closer come! You are not near enough! I would embrace your burden, so I might feel My child reposing on My breast. You love Me! I know it. Doubt not, then. But, loving me, lean hard!”

Octavius Winslow, Christ’s Sympathy to Weary Pilgrims,  (1808 – 1878)

HT: GraceGems

What The Carnal Mind Doesn’t Get

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“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God…” Romans 8:7

Enmity against God, O awful thought!

Enmity to the best of beings, the dearest of friends!

Enmity to Him whose nature and whose name is love!

Enmity to Him who is holy, yes, holiness itself!

Enmity to Him who is good, yes, goodness itself!

Enmity to Him who is true, yes, truth itself!

Enmity to Him, outside of whom nothing

is good, nothing holy, nothing true!

Enmity to Him, who gave His Son to die for sinners!

Enmity to Him who died for His enemies!

Enmity to Jesus who thus died; who ‘flew on wings

of love’ to the rescue and the redemption of fallen

man; who took the place, bore the sins, endured

the curse; who gave His life, His obedience, all He

could give: Himself! All this for the poor, the vile,

the worthless; He suffered, bled and died!

All this for sinners, for rebels, for enemies!

Was not this enough?

Could He have done more?

Son of God, is it for this they hate You, despise You, reject You?

Oh, the enmity of the carnal mind!

– Octavius Winslow, “The Soul Before Conversion”

Encouragement For Gospel Abusing Saints

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“If there is one consideration more humbling than another to a spiritually- minded believer, it is, that, after all God has done for him, – after all the rich displays of his grace, the patience and tenderness of his instructions, the repeated discipline of his covenant, the tokens of love received, and the lessons of experience learned, there should still exist in the heart a principle, the tendency of which is to secret, perpetual, and alarming departure from God. Truly, there is in this solemn fact, that which might well lead to the deepest self-abasement before Him.”

“We must here, however, guard a precious and important truth; that is, the indestructible nature of true grace. Divine grace in the soul can never really die; true faith can never utterly and finally fail. We are speaking now but of their decay. A flower may droop, and yet live: a plant may be sickly, and yet not die. In the lowest stage of spiritual declension, in the feeblest state of grace, there is a life that never dies. In the midst of all his startings aside, the ebb and the flow, the wandering and the restoring, the believer in Jesus is “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” He cannot utterly fall; he cannot finally be lost. The immutability of God keeps him, – the covenant of grace keeps him, – the finished work of Jesus keeps him, – the indwelling of the Spirit keeps him, and keeps him to eternal glory. We say, then, true grace is indestructible grace; it can never die. ”

“Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul” by Octavious Winslow